„Game Changers - Women in Agriculture“ Award winner 2020

Krishna Radha
© M. Bavya, M-Tomato FPO

Krishna Radha

Farmer and president of two farmer producer companies (*1982)

India

 

Nominating organization:
GIZ


Project:
Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector, India

 

“Krishna Rahda’s example shows that resistance does not have to be an obstacle to achieve great changes. Suffering from polio and often disparaged by men, this woman has never allowed herself to be restricted by physical limitations or the traditionally assigned role as a woman. With her firm believe in the power of collaboration and her strong determination, the jury sees her as real game changer. Today Krishna Radha is the president of M-Tomato Producer Company. This company is a federation of nine farmer producer organizations in Chittoor district of Andra Pradesh. She has made a huge impact on famers' livelihoods across different agricultural value chains in India. She achieved this by organizing the farmers and promoting collective procurements and marketing. She is a key driver of the professionalization of vegetable value chains in her district, especially for tomatoes. Her outreach as a business leader has an impressive scale: More than 8000 farmers at village and district levels have benefitted from her work, successfully buying input and selling products together. Krishna Rahda is also a strong advocate for women leadership; she motivates other women to participate and lead. By this, she has made a significant contribution to empowering women in rural India.”

 

"I am a clear advocate for the participation of and leadership by farm women in various agricultural sectors. In the beginning I faced a lot of criticism from my fellow farmers, especially from men. They tried to demotivate me by saying that women were not capable of leading cooperatives and that starting marketing activities was "not their thing". This award makes me more responsible for continuing to work on farmers' women's issues, it gives me strength to get involved".

Krishna Radha

Extract from the nomination

“Krishna, although affected by Polio, which restricts her in everyday life, did not feel discouraged and constrained, rather determined to move forward in achieving the objectives for herself and for the farmer producer organisations. Her active participation and engagement in collective marketing and value chain activities made her a role model for the fellow women farmers in the region and the district. Krishna has effectively demonstrated her leadership abilities and proved that women are capable of performing any role given the opportunity in male dominated realms like marketing and establishing linkages with various service providers.”

 

She is truly an inspiring woman. A woman who has inspired me personally, because despite her illness she has been able to surpass this level and to lead carry out a satisfying professional activity. Beyond all hope. Being a farmer herself, she has managed two farmers' cooperatives, which is incredible. And through these cooperatives she has impacted more than 8,000 producers in her community."

Halatou Dem, jury member and managing director of “Les Céréales de TATAM SARL”, Mali